This invention relates to steam surface condensers and liquid-to-liquid heat exchangers of the kind generally known as shell and tube-type heat exchangers. Typical conventional steam condensers and heat exchangers and similar devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,764,876, 3,338,052, 3,698,476, 4,084,546, 4,106,559, 4,206,802, 4,300,481 and 4,620,588.
Shell and tube-type steam surface condenser technology is well known and has been used for many applications. In such condensers, steam condenses on the outside surfaces of tubes which are kept cool by a cooling medium such as water which is circulated through the tubes. Most steam surface condensers have straight, smooth tubes of equal length that are bundled together to produce a significant volume of condensate in a relatively small volume of space.
Similarly, shell and tube-type heat exchanger technology is well known and has been used in many applications. In such heat exchangers, the warmer medium generally flows on one side of a tube and the cooler medium flows on the other side so that the warmer medium is cooled and the cooler medium is warmed. Unlike the shell and tube steam surface condenser, however, the cooling medium can flow either inside the tubes or outside of the tubes. Many shell and tube-type heat exchangers also use straight, smooth equal length tubes that are bundled together, which allows a significant quantity of heat to be transferred from the warm medium to the cool medium in a relatively small volume of space. Some shell and tube heat exchangers use U-shaped tubes and/or provide enhancements on the tubes such as fins to increase efficiency or reduce the size of the unit and/or the manufacturing costs.